Another iconic video game franchise is racing to the big screen with Gran Turismo. Based on both a true story and the iconic PlayStation racing video game of the same, the film revolves around a teenager who aspired to be a race car driver and gets the chance to do so after winning a series of Gran Turismo competitions. Archie Madekwe leads the cast of Gran Turismo alongside Stranger Things‘ David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Darren Barnet, Geri Halliwell Horner, and Djimon Hounsou.
As part of our special Summer 2023 Movies Preview, Screen Rant is proud to exclusively present new Gran Turismo movie images.
The images, as featured above, tease the high stakes to come from the true-story-based racing video game adaptation, namely David Harbour’s tough love coach as he watches nervously from the pit as the young Jann Mardenborough embarks on a real track.
How Gran Turismo Can Set A New Video Game Adaptation Trend
After decades of poor attempts to bring iconic properties to life, the past few years have finally seen the video game adaptation curse begin to lift on the big screen thanks to the likes of Detective Pikachu, the Sonic the Hedgehog movies, and Mortal Kombat, all of which have follow-ups in various stage of development and production. The world of television has seen a similar string of hits with critics and gamers alike with Netflix’s Castlevania and Arcane as well as HBO’s The Last of Us.
Unlike many of these recent successes, however, Gran Turismo has a unique angle going for it by basing itself on a true story rather than directly adapting its video game source material. Considering there is no real plot to the games, it does make sense for the production to have gone in a route with a story already in place rather than crafting a new one. The Aaron Paul-led Need for Speed ultimately took the latter approach, which only resulted in a modest box office response and mostly negative reviews.
Though few other gaming franchises may have real-life stories to base themselves on, should Gran Turismo‘s true story-inspired approach pay off, it could set a new trend for video game adaptations in the future. More creatives are already choosing to take authentic routes to their adaptations, ranging from HBO’s The Last of Us to the in-development Ghost of Tsushima movie, but allowing a chance to explore other potential routes could keep things fresh as the video game adaptation curse becomes a thing of the past.